FLAG RESEARCH QUARTERLY REVUE TRIMESTRIELLE DE RECHERCHE EN VEXILLOLOGIE JULY / JUILLET 2016 No. 9 ARTICLE A research publication of the North American Vexillological Association / Une publication de recherche de Flag Proportions: l‘Association nord-américaine de vexillologie Thoughts on Flag Families and Artistic Unity within Displays of Multiple Flags By Steven A. Knowlton and Adam C. Sales* The proportions of a flag are an integral part of a flag’s design. In some cases, the proportions are the only way to distinguish between otherwise identical flags, such as Monaco (16:21) and Indonesia (2:3).1 Bruce Nicolls notes that medieval flags were often square or even taller than they were wide, but the seventeenth century saw an increase of their widths, likely due to “the increasing use of flags at sea, where the additional length improved flying qualities and reduced the rate ALL OTHERS of fraying.”2 Today, almost all flags are rectangular and longer than they are tall. Aside from those common traits, however, flags display a remarkable diversity of proportions, as shown in 3:5 2:3 figure 1. The proportions of the flags of colo- INSIDE / SOMMAIRE Page nial powers exert an influence on 1:1 Editor’s Note / Note de la rédaction 2 post-colonial flags, even when those The National Flag of Japan 7 flags of independence bear no other Vexillo-Bibliography 14 graphic resemblance to their predeces- sors. For example, the unusual ratio of NAVA 50 schedule and reservations 16 Figure 1. Frequency of proportions occurring in the United States flag, 10:19, is found national flags. Source: Compiled from data in Flags in only two other national flags: the of the World (www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/). Federated States of Micronesia and continued on page 3 JULY / JUILLET 2016 | No. 9 Page 2 Editor’s Note / Note de la rédaction FLAG RESEARCH QUARTERLY / REVUE TRIMESTRIELLE DE RECHERCHE EN It is my great honour to guest edit this issue of the Flag Research Quarterly as the VEXILLOLOGIE NO. 9 journal continues to prosper and grow. Like any other collective endeavour, this July / Juillet 2016 Vol. 3, Issue 2 / fascicule 2 issue presents the efforts of numerous people up front and behind the scenes—not ISSN 2334-4407 to mention the authors themselves. FRQ is still finding its feet, as it were, but the A research publication of the North American present issue continues to reflect some of the possibilities such a publication can Vexillological Association / Une publication de recherche de l’Association nord-américaine accommodate and the scholarship it can contain. de vexillologie. Published quarterly / Publié quatre fois par an. In this issue of FRQ, we have two significant articles—one from the present and Please submit correspondence and the other from the past. First, Steve Knowlton and Adam Sales bring us a very submissions to / Veuillez envoyer toute interesting paper on flag proportions, a subject perhaps little-considered, yet of correspondance à l’adresse suivante: Flag Research Quarterly, Post Office Box 55071 fundamental significance to the way in which flags are designed, produced, and #58049, Boston, Mass. 02205-5071 USA; [email protected]. displayed. By the end of the piece, it’s hard to imagine looking at flags without EDITOR / ÉDITEUR taking into consideration what the proportions mean and how they may have an Kenneth J. Hartvigsen, Ph.D. impact with other banners in a common setting. EDITORIAL BOARD / Second is a piece from the late Niichirō Matsunami (1868-1945), a law professor COMITÉ DE RÉDACTION Kenneth W. Reynolds, Ph.D. at various Japanese universities, specializing in maritime law and Japanese vexil- Chair / Directeur lology. This reprint of his 1901 work on the comparative origins of the Japanese Steven A. Knowlton, M.L.I.S., M.A. national flag (with the addition of images by the guest editor) comprises a thought- John A. Lowe, M.D., FF David B. Martucci provoking view of a scholar in a nation still youthful on the international scene. It John M. Hartvigsen (ex officio) also serves as the first in what I hope is a series of historical reprints of out-of-print PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE / and hard-to-find short monographs on vexillological subjects within the pages of COMITÉ DE PUBLICATION Kenneth W. Reynolds, Ph.D. FRQ. If you have any you think might be appropriate, please submit them digitally Chair / Directeur or in hard copy to Kenneth Hartvigsen. Kenneth J. Hartvigsen Ph.D. This number of the journal also includes another entry of “Vexillo-Bibliography”, Anne M. Platoff, M.S., M.A., FF John M. Hartvigsen (ex officio) items of note from the academic side of vexillology that appear in other sources. Luc V. Baronian, Ph.D. (adviser / conseiller) As always, some of these are available online, but most are not. You can, however, North American Vexillological Association / check with your local library which can order the issue or article through Interlibrary Association nord-américaine de vexillologie Founded / Fondée en 1967 Loan. John M. Hartvigsen As this publication goes to print, the preparations for NAVA 50—this year’s President / Président James Croft annual meeting—in San José, California, are well underway and registration is First Vice President / Premier vice-président open. Please consider attending NAVA 50 and enjoy the presentations, the cama- Kenneth W. Reynolds, Ph.D. raderie, the sites, and all that the area has to offer. Second Vice President / Second vice-président Cindy Williams Secretary / Secrétaire Christopher Bedwell Kenneth W. Reynolds, Ph.D. Treasurer / Trésorier Guest Editor, FRQ Whitney Smith, Ph.D., LF, FF, WSF President Emeritus / Président émérite © 2016 North American Vexillological Association / Association nord-américaine de vexillologie. All rights reserved / Tous droits réservés. All images used by permission / Toutes les images sont utilisées avec autorisation. The opinions expressed by individual articles in this publication belong to their authors and * CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE. Steven A. Knowlton, M.L.I.S., M.A., is the Librarian for History do not necessarily represent those of the editor or the Association / Les opinions exprimées dans la présente and African American Studies at Princeton University. Adam C. Sales, Ph.D., is a Research publication n’engagent que leurs auteurs et ne sont pas Associate in the College of Education of the University of Texas at Austin. nécessairement celles de l’éditeur ou de l’Association. A research publication of the FLAG RESEARCH QUARTERLY / JULY / JUILLET 2016 | No. 9 North American Vexillological Association / REVUE TRIMESTRIELLE DE RECHERCHE Page 3 Une publication de recherche de EN VEXILLOLOGIE l’Association nord-américaine de vexillologie Knowlton: Flag Proportions: Thoughts on Flag Families and Artistic Unity within Displays of Multiple Flags continued from page 1 the Marshall Islands—both former American possessions. neighbor republics who also flew tricolors (Guinea, Mali, The British preference for 1:2 flags has been even more Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon). However, Don influential, as countries with designs as distinct as Canada, Healy observes that the “republican symbolism” of the other Dominica, and the Seychelles have all retained the propor- tricolors was taken from the French tricolore with its propor- tions of the Union Flag. The Soviet Union flew 1:2 flags, tions of 2:3 which was repeated among its descendants repre- whose proportions have also been carried forward by many senting former French colonies, while Nigeria retains the former Soviet republics. proportions of the British flag.3 Future studies of “flag fami- The case of Nigeria, a former British colony, illustrates the lies” may find it useful to explore flag proportions as well as powerful influence of colonial flag proportions. The vertical common colors and symbols. Table 1 demonstrates the strong tricolor of Nigeria may have been adopted as a gesture of correlation between the proportions of a colonizing power’s pan-African solidarity with many of its newly independent flag and those of its former colonies. TABLE 1: NATIONAL FLAGS SORTED BY PROPORTIONS 1:1 ¶ Zimbabwe § Morocco ¶ Pakistan Germany 10:17 Switzerland Bosnia § Senegal Panama ¶ Guyana Cape Verde Vatican City Croatia § Syria Peru Haiti 10:19 1:2 Cuba § Tunisia Portugal * Kyrgyzstan Marshall Islands * Armenia Eritrea § Vietnam Romania Liechtenstein Micronesia, Fed. * Azerbaijan Ethiopia Afghanistan *Russia * Lithuania States of United * Belarus Guinea-Bissau Angola Rwanda Luxembourg States * Kazakhstan Honduras ¶ Antigua and Barbuda San Marino Nicaragua 11:18 * Latvia Hungary Austria Saudi Arabia Paraguay Finland * Moldova Libya ¶ Barbados Serbia § Togo 11:28 * Tajikistan Macedonia ¶ Belize ¶ Sierra Leone 3:8 ¶ Qatar * Uzbekistan Mongolia Bhutan ¶ Singapore Poland Montenegro Bolivia Slovakia 13:15 ¶ Australia 4:7 North Korea ¶ Botswana ¶ South Africa Belgium ¶ Bahamas Iran Philippines ¶ Burma South Korea 15:23 ¶ Brunei Mexico São Tomé and Chile Spain Dominican Rep. ¶ Canada ¶ Oman ¶ Dominica Príncipe China ¶ St. Kitts & Nevis 16:21 5:4 ¶ Fiji Slovenia Colombia ¶ St. Vincent & Monaco Timor-Leste Congo, Dem. Rep. Grenadines Nepal ¶ Ireland 18:25 (Kinshasa) Suriname ¶ Jamaica 2:3 5:7 Iceland ¶ Jordan § Algeria Czech Republic ¶ Swaziland Albania Ecuador ¶ Tanzania 18:27 ¶ Kiribati § Benin 5:8 ¶ Egypt Thailand ¶ The Gambia ¶ Kuwait § Burkina Faso Argentina Equatorial Guinea * Turkmenistan ¶ Malaysia § Cambodia Guatemala 19:36 Georgia ¶ Uganda ¶ Nauru § Cameroon ¶ Palau ¶§ Vanuatu ¶ Ghana * Ukraine ¶ New Zealand